Determination of αs and the charm and bottom quark masses from recent measurements of R(s)

Recent experimental data for the total cross section σ(e+e- → hadrons) are compared with the up-to-date theoretical prediction of perturbative QCD for those energies where perturbation theory is reliable. This allows for a determination of the strong coupling αs(4) (5 GeV) = 0.235 ± 0.047. The precise data from the charm threshold region, when combined with the recent evaluation of moments with three loop accuracy, lead to a direct determination of the short distance MS-bar charm quark mass mc(mc) = 1.304(27). Applying the same approach to the bottom quark we obtain mb(mb) = 4.191(51) GeV